Navigate:

Fred Upton seeks to channel GOP's 'Inner Gipper'

The House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman manages a truce with the right. | John Shinkle |
John Shinkle
Close

“Oversight is important,” said Mark McIntosh, counsel at Boyden Gray & Associates and a former Bush White House official. “For those of us who were in the Bush administration who experienced oversight via Henry Waxman, we welcome it. It extracts a certain level of pain. It’s also necessary in the checks and balances of the branches.”

But oversight can go on for only so long. And even if Upton moves his anti-EPA bill, there’s a good chance it will die in the Senate or at the hands of a presidential veto.

But it’s unclear exactly what he’s planning to accomplish. Monday, Upton said he’s not planning to spend time on Obama’s proposal for a clean energy standard of generating 80 percent of the nation’s electricity from wind, solar, nuclear, natural gas and “clean” coal by 2035. “I don’t want to pick winners or losers,” he said. “But I also know we need more energy down the road. We’ll see where things take us. It’s not on the front burner at the moment.”

Several observers said Upton will be cautious to not push too far on energy because he doesn’t want to upset other pieces of his committee agenda, like repealing parts of the health care law.

“What’s important to recognize is that he has a much broader agenda than energy,” said an energy industry lobbyist and former GOP congressional aide. “He can’t let his politics on energy undermine his ability to be influential on other issues like health care and telecommunications.”

Upton’s critics on the left are also busy pointing out his rhetorical shifts.

Environmentalists who used to count on him as a somewhat reliable GOP vote are now charting his every move, setting up a website (UptonUpdates.com) that tracks his sound bites, much like they once did with Barton.

“We all know a Fred Upton,” Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth and a native of Upton’s district, wrote in a column last week for The Huffington Post. “He’s the co-worker who was your friend until he got promoted and ‘went corporate.’ He’s the athlete who played to bring a championship to his hometown before following a larger contract to a bigger city. He’s the buddy who was always around until he got into a relationship and didn’t have time for you anymore.”

Dirk Forrister, a top climate change official in the Clinton White House, said he’s not surprised by Upton’s shifting stance on energy.

“I’m sure it was a brutal fight for him to win that chairmanship,” he said. “He’s served a long time in the trenches waiting for his opportunity to lead. As he settles into those shoes, I’m hopeful he looks for ways to be constructive as opposed to ways to be a bomb thrower.”

Readers' Comments (13)

Climate Change has done to news editors and lazy journalism, climatologists and all of science itself, what nasty priests did for religion. SYSTEM CHANGE, NOT CLIMATE CHANGE. In his State of the Union Address, President Obama, didn’t mention the words Climate Change or EPA once. So why are the thousands of consensus scientists not marching in protest? Thanks media. And meanwhile, the UN had allowed carbon trading to trump 3rd world fresh water relief, starvation rescue and 3rd world education for just over 24 years of climate control instead of needed population control. Nice job. Let’s not leave the lab-coat consultants out of this climate change scam crime against humanity. But remember first that scientists produced cruise missiles, cancer causing chemicals, land mine technology, nuclear weapons, germ warfare, cluster bombs, strip mining technology, Y2K, Y2Kyoto, deep sea drilling technology and now climate change. And how ironic is it that up until 25 years ago when CO2 Phobia began, scientists were condemned for producing planet killing chemicals and making environmentalism necessary in the first place? Continued support of the climate change mistake is making media quality worse and it splits environmental efforts, alienates support for responsible environmental stewardship, and thus drags the well intentioned progressivism down with it. Now is the time to stop acting like fear mongering necons, threatening our children with DEATH BY CO2, and drop the CO2 to start stewardship of the planet anew and face the future challenges with optimism and courage, not needless panic of a “dying planet”.

Politico conveniently leaves out Upton's support of the light bulb ban - a position that speaks volumes to this man's wrongheadedness and susceptibility to fads and trends - in other words, his bad judgment.

A large body of evidence supports the conclusion that human activity is the primary driver of recent warming. This evidence has accumulated over several decades, and from hundreds of studies. The first line of evidence is our basic physical understanding of how greenhouse gases trap heat, how the climate system responds to increases in greenhouse gases, and how other human and natural factors influence climate.

The second line of evidence is from indirect estimates of climate changes over the last 1,000 to 2,000 years. These estimates are often obtained from living things and their remains (like tree rings and corals) which provide a natural archive of climate variations. These indicators show that the recent temperature rise is clearly unusual in at least the last 1,000 years.

The third line of evidence is based on comparisons of actual climate with computer models of how we expect climate to behave under certain human influences. For example, when climate models are run with historical increases in greenhouse gases, they show gradual warming of the Earth and ocean surface, increases in ocean heat content, a rise in global sea level, and general retreat of sea ice and snow cover. These and other aspects of modeled climate change are in agreement with observations.

Speaking of who’s calling the shots on the Republican/Tea Party campaingn to roll back EPA’s authority to protect our air and water from pollution…

“David and his brother Charles are among the top ten richest men in America through their co-ownership of Koch Industries, the sprawling private conglomerate that includes oil refineries and pipelines, consumer goods, a financial derivatives practice, chemical interests, timber, shipping, and coal. Koch Industries, one of the worst air polluters in America, has lobbied to eviscerate the EPA, repeal health reform, and Koch front groups fight every day to cut government spending on programs for the poor and middle class. However, Koch says he “welcome[s]” taxpayer money for his ballet performances.”

As a life long conservative I'm concerned that Upton is in charge based on his voting record. He has shown me he is a closet liberal.

He needs to get going with the defunding of the EPA. The SCOTUS will scuttle obamacare in a few months due to the lack of a severability clause and the unconstitutional individual mandate. Lets keep focused on the greens/communists that tried to pull the cap and trade scam on the American voters and run them out of government. Cut the funding and if they can't pay salaries they can't harrass businesses and voters.

It is NOT a ban on "regular" incandescent bulbs - what it does is set efficiency standards for lights - if you can invent an incandescent bulb that doesn't give 20% light and 80% heat, but puts out more light than heat, then do it.

Care for a list of other countries with similar laws? It isn't Russia....

"Perhaps the Kochs' most surprising and important ally on the committee is its new chairman, Rep. Fred Upton. The Republican from Michigan, who was once criticized by conservatives for his middle-of-the-road approach to environmental issues, is now leading the effort to rein in the EPA.

"Upton received $20,000 in donations from Koch employees in 2010, making them among his top 10 donors in that cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

"In recent months the congressman has made a point of publicly aligning himself with the Koch-backed advocacy group, calling for an end to the "EPA chokehold." Last week the chairman released a draft of a bill that would strip the EPA of its ability to curb carbon emissions. The legislation is in line with the Kochs' long-advocated stance that the federal government should have a minimal role in regulating business. The Kochs' oil refineries and chemical plants stand to pay millions to reduce air pollution under currently proposed EPA regulations."

It would be really nice if the EPA took responsible environmental stewardship seriously! Sadly, that's not the case. Their proposed new regulations are political! They even admit it to Congress! July 7th. 2010 - Washington, D.C.- "During a hearing today in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, EPA Administrator Jackson confirmed an EPA analysis showing that unilateral U.S. action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions would have no effect on climate."